Ali's party marched around the ring parodying Frazier while the champion yelled that he would knock Frazier out, and the fight would be the "great annihilation and destruction of Joe Frazier."
Frazier, in a more sober mood, merely said he was ready.

"I don't care what the other guy says," he said.

The fight is being held amid publicity and speculation about Ali's marital life and his relationship with black American beauty Veronica Porche.

His wife, Belinda, stormed out of the Manila Hilton where Ali is staying and caught a plane to San Francisco the day before the weigh in.

Both fighters trained lightly.

The fight, worth 20 million dollars (U.S.) (10 million pounds sterling) is being held in the Philippine Coleseum in Quezon City.